Treatment planning and outcomes effects of reducing the preferred mean esophagus dose for conventionally fractionated non‐small cell lung cancer radiotherapy

Based on an analysis of published literature, our department recently lowered the preferred mean esophagus dose (MED) constraint for conventionally fractionated (2 Gy/fraction in approximately 30 fractions) treatment of locally advanced non‐small cell lung cancer (LA‐NSCLC) with the goal of reducing the incidence of symptomatic acute esophagitis (AE). The goal of the change was to encourage treatment planners to achieve a MED close to 21 Gy...